*LRB10216874ECR22282r*

SJ0021 LRB102 16874 ECR 22282 r

1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

2 WHEREAS, Assyrians, an ethnic minority group, are the 3 indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have lived in the Middle 4 East since ancient times, including in what is today , 5 , Iran, and Syria; and

6 WHEREAS, Today, Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans and 7 Syriacs, live around the world, including over 600,000 who 8 live in the and over 80,000 who live in Illinois; 9 and

10 WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1923, the Assyrian 11 occurred; during this time, the murdered over 12 300,000 Assyrian men, women, and children by methods that 13 included mass executions, death marches, torture, and 14 starvation; and

15 WHEREAS, During the Assyrian Genocide, also known as the 16 Seyfo Genocide, the and their Kurdish allies 17 also systematically raped and enslaved Assyrian women and 18 girls, forced the Assyrians from their ancestral lands, and 19 pillaged and destroyed their communities; and

20 WHEREAS, The killings of over two million , 21 Assyrians, Greeks, Christians, and other religious minority SJ0021 -2- LRB102 16874 ECR 22282 r

1 populations represented the culmination of a series of violent 2 dating back to the late 1800s; and

3 WHEREAS, The year 2021 marks the 106th anniversary of the 4 Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek of 1915; these 5 genocides were part of the planned eradication of those 6 indigenous communities by the Ottoman Turkish Empire; yet, to 7 this day, Turkey has still not recognized these genocides; and

8 WHEREAS, , 1933 is recognized by the International 9 Association of Genocide Scholars as the date on which as many 10 as 6,000 Assyrians were killed at the orders of the Iraqi 11 government in an event known as the Massacre; this 12 massacre continued the legacy of exemplified by 13 the 1915 Assyrian Genocide; and

14 WHEREAS, August 7th, globally observed by the Assyrian 15 community as Assyrian Remembrance Day, is in remembrance of 16 the and of all persecution the 17 have faced as a result of their distinct and ancient ethnic and 18 religious identity; and

19 WHEREAS, The persecution against Assyrians continues until 20 this day in their ancestral homeland, where they are 21 continually targeted for persecution by state and non-state 22 actors such as the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Iraq, SJ0021 -3- LRB102 16874 ECR 22282 r

1 the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the so called Islamic 2 State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL; and

3 WHEREAS, ISIL has persistently destroyed culturally and 4 historically significant locations and items, including UNESCO 5 world heritage sites such as the ancient Assyrian city of 6 Nimrud; and

7 WHEREAS, The United States House of Representatives and 8 United States Senate concurrently resolved that "the 9 atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, 10 and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria 11 constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide"; 12 and

13 WHEREAS, The denial of genocide is widely recognized as 14 the final stage of genocide; this denial maintains impunity 15 for the perpetrators of these atrocities and demonstrably 16 paves the way for future genocides; and

17 WHEREAS, The resilience and endurance of the Assyrian 18 people, despite being victims of a genocide that the Islamic 19 State continues to perpetuate to this day, is commendable and 20 praiseworthy; therefore, be it

21 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL SJ0021 -4- LRB102 16874 ECR 22282 r

1 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF 2 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that RESOLVED, That we 3 recognize the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 as a genocide and as a 4 reprehensible crime against humanity, and we honor the memory 5 of the hundreds of thousands of Assyrians who were murdered; 6 and be it further

7 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois recognizes the Simele 8 Massacre of 1933 as a genocide and reprehensible crime against 9 humanity and honors the memory of the thousands of Assyrians 10 who were murdered during the Simele Massacre of 1933; and be it 11 further

12 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois deplores the 13 persistent, ongoing efforts by any person, in this country or 14 abroad, to deny the historical fact of the Assyrian Genocide 15 or any other genocide; and be it further

16 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois respectfully calls 17 upon the President of the United States to formally and 18 consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities 19 committed against the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek 20 populations of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923 21 constituted genocide; and be it further

22 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois encourages education SJ0021 -5- LRB102 16874 ECR 22282 r

1 and public understanding of the facts of the Assyrian 2 Genocide, including the United States' role in humanitarian 3 relief effort and the relevance of the Assyrian Genocide to 4 modern day crimes against humanity; and be it further

5 RESOLVED, That we declare August 7, 2021 as "Assyrian 6 Remembrance Day" in the State of Illinois.